Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Planned Parenthood Takes a Furlough Day in Indiana

*rage*seethe*boil*

After my garbage governor, Mitch "The Blade" Daniels signed into law a bill defunding Planned Parenthood in Indiana, the healthcare provider, which serves 85,000 people, including 9,300 Medicaid patients, has stayed open and continued to provide care to Hoosiers with more than $100,000 in donations, but, after state funding ran out Monday, Planned Parenthood Indiana will "will stop treating Medicaid patients and lay off two of its three STD specialists," and will also "close all its clinics on Wednesday and send employees home without pay" to save funds.

"Our 9,300 Medicaid patients, including those who had appointments Tuesday, are going to see their care disrupted," said Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana.

The provider typically receives about $1.3 million a year in Medicaid funds, about 10 percent of its total budget. The new law also strips Planned Parenthood of roughly $150,000 in funding for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, money that paid for three intervention specialists -- health workers who track down the partners of someone who tests positive for an STD and ensure they are tested and treated. Two of those specialists, who were based in Muncie, have been laid off, and a third, in Lafayette, is now employed in a different capacity.

That leaves Planned Parenthood with a single specialist, in Lafayette.

...Sue Swayze, legislative director for Indiana Right to Life, said that with Monday's reduction in services, Planned Parenthood has "made it clear what their priority is."

"They wouldn't stop providing abortions even in the interim to keep the women's health services," she said.

ABORTION IS A HEALTH SERVICE, YOU MENDACIOUS GARBAGEBRAIN!

State Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis, who authored the defunding language, echoed that criticism in legislative debate in April.